[Since I just love watching The Mentalist, decided to give this fan fiction a try. I just hope I can portray the feelings and characters as accurately as possible.]

A house was on fire. Inside, the air was filled with smoke, making every breath a torture. Lisbon pushed the panic out of her mind and continued searching.

"Jane!" shouted Lisbon before breaking into a coughing fit. She had to bend lower to get away from the smoke but it wasn't helping much. Tears were already streaming down her cheeks and she could barely see in front of her.

As Lisbon looked around, wondering if she should go up to the second floor when she heard an inconsistent thumping sound. With the sound of the crackling fire around her, Lisbon was amazed she could even hear it!

Following the sounds, Lisbon located the source and made her way over to the closet under the stairs leading to the second floor. Thankfully, the fire was still pretty much contained in the kitchen and had not spread. Even so, Lisbon knew it would be a matter of minutes before the fire reached her position and if she didn't get out soon, the acrid smoke would suffocate her before that. There was also a danger of a further explosion.

Reaching for the door handle, Lisbon tried turning it and giving it a jiggle. No luck, the door was locked.

"Jane, if you're in there, hang on," shouted Lisbon as she placed an ear on the door. She heard several thumps in answer to her shout.

Lisbon reached for her gun but changed her mind and looked around. She didn't know the situation behind the door. If Jane was locked in the closet, she could risk shooting him. Her eyes landed on a brass paper weight on a table nearby which looked heavy enough to knock the handle off the door.

Picking it up, Lisbon got a good grip of the weight and brought it down on the handle. After 5 tries, the handle came off and Lisbon dropped the weight to pull open the door.

"Jane!" exclaimed Lisbon when she saw Jane on the floor of the closet, gag tied around his mouth, hands bound behind his back and feet tied as well.

Lisbon quickly untied Jane's hands and got to work on untying his feet. Jane pulled off the gag and said, "Am I glad to see you. What took you so long?"

In spite of everything, Lisbon rolled her eyes, and replied, "Out. Now!"

As the two of them stepped out of the closet, they saw that the fire had crept out around them. Jane started coughing and raised an elbow to cover his nose. Both looked around trying to spot a way out. Seeing a relatively clear route, Jane grabbed Lisbon and pulled her along.

The fire was getting bigger by the second and the whole place was already filled with thick smoke. No able to clearly see where he was going, Jane knocked his right shin against a coffee table, causing him to yelp.

Jane and Lisbon managed to stumble out the front door and pass the garden before collapsing on the sidewalk. Jane was leaning against the fence and trying to wipe his eyes to clear his vision.

Lisbon was on her hands and knees, coughing the smoke out of her lungs. Her vision was blurry and she felt she couldn't breathe.

Jane was about to stand up to help Lisbon when she fainted right into his lap.

"Lisbon?" asked Jane, gently shaking Lisbon, concern written all over his face.

Just then, Jane heard sirens and soon saw several fire trucks, an ambulance and Van Pelt's car screech to a halt near them.

Chaos ensued with everyone moving at once. Fire fighters got down to putting out the fire, paramedics and the CBI team swarmed around Jane and Lisbon.

"What happened?" asked Van Pelt, looking from Jane to Lisbon.

"Breathe into the mask," instructed a paramedic, who pushed a mask over Jane's face.

"Lisbon was in there trying to find me. She must have breathed in more smoke than I did," said Jane, explaining before coughing again.

Two paramedics carefully laid Lisbon on the pavement and felt for her pulse. One took another mask and placed it on Lisbon.

"Her vitals are weak. We have to take both of you to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation," said the first paramedic.

"I'm fine," insisted Jane.

"You may feel fine now but smoke inhalation is dangerous. You have to come with us," instructed the paramedic as he helped his colleague strap Lisbon onto a gurney. "It's either you come willingly or we strap you down as well."

"Just go, Jane," pleaded Van Pelt.

"Fine," said Jane, "but just to keep Lisbon company."

Rigsby, who had been talking to the chief fire fighter came over and said, "The fire will likely take an hour to put out and it'll be another hour before it'll be safe to go in."

Cho had been on the phone, hung up and said, "Hightower wants us to stay on top of this and Jane, you have been ordered to go to the hospital."

"Okay, I'm going," said Jane, getting up. As he took his first step towards the ambulance, he grimaced and nearly fell over.

Van Pelt asked, "Are you okay?"

"Must be the bruise I got from banging into the coffee table inside," said Jane, pulling up his right pant leg to show off an ugly bruise.

"That's nasty," said Cho.

With the help of Risgby, Jane limped over to the ambulance and got in.